How would you like to spend
Christmas season in prison? Millions of Americans do.
Many are imprisoned for victimless crimes, such as
marijuana possession. Others are
totally innocent.

Experts estimate that there are
several hundred thousand innocent Americans in prison.
Among these many is Christophe Yves Gaynor. In my
considered opinion, Mr. Gaynor was framed by a corrupt
Arlington, Virginia, prosecutor and railroaded by a
corrupt Arlington, Virginia, judge.

Mr. Gaynor was a skateboard coach
in Virginia who took his team to a New York competition.
One of the team members attempted to purchase drugs. To
restrain him, Mr. Gaynor threatened to tell his parents.
The boy struck first by accusing Mr. Gaynor of molesting
him. The entire team knew the charge to be false, but
the improprieties of the trial defeated justice. The
governor of Virginia should remove the stain of
injustice and pardon Mr. Gaynor.

William R. Strong, Jr., is another
victim of our injustice system. DNA evidence exists that
Mr. Strong says would clear him, but the state of
Virginia somehow cannot get around to giving him the
benefit of the evidence. On February 8, 2002,
Sheriff C.W. Phelps of the County of Isle of Wight
informed state authorities, including the Commonwealth
Attorney, that he had found the misfiled
perk kit containing DNA evidence. Almost two years
later Mr. Strong still hasn't been tested to see if his
DNA matches the evidence.

Mr. Strong was an early victim of
Virginia's wife rape law. He says his unfaithful wife
was into rough sex with her boyfriend and took advantage
of the new law to get him, her husband, out of the way.
The semen in the perk kit, Mr. Strong says, is the
boyfriend's, not his.

Mr. Strong was convicted prior to
the advent of DNA testing. A simple test can establish
the truth. Does Virginia care?

Conservatives have hardened their
hearts against the wrongfully convicted. Mistakes
happen, they admit, but they believe most mistakes
result from liberal judges letting the guilty go free.

Conservatives are right that the
guilty often go free, but the reason is that the
innocent are convicted in their place. Justice is no
longer a concern of the justice system. Careers depend
on conviction rates. It is easier for police and
prosecutors to get convictions by piling charges on a
convenient suspect until they coerce a plea than to
solve a case and find the truth.

Mary Sue Terry, former attorney
general of the Commonwealth of Virginia, has this to
say: "Our concern has turned from seeking truth to
seeking convictions, and our post-conviction efforts are
focused on denying any further review."

Judges have written to me about the
breakdown of our justice system. They confirm that
injustice is rife.

With the advent of DNA evidence,
every week we learn of new cases of wrongful conviction.
People on death row and people who have spent most of
their lives in prison are being released as DNA evidence
proves them to be innocent of the crimes for which they
were convicted. Each case of wrongful conviction is a
scandal, but the scandals have little impact on the
public and none whatsoever on the conviction mill that
continues its destruction of innocent lives.

Forensic evidence, once thought to
be conclusive, has turned out to be unreliable and often
fraudulent. From time to time we see news reports of
forensic experts whose work has fallen under suspicion:
Pamela Fish in Illinois,
Fred Zain in West Virginia.
Joyce Gilchrist in Oklahoma City. Even the FBI's
vaunted crime lab turned out to be unreliable.

Many convictions are obtained by
prosecutors who pay "snitches" with money, dropped
charges, or reduced sentences to produce testimony that
can be used to convict other defendants. Most often, the
testimony is false, but the prosecutor has his
"evidence."

Americans are extremely naive and
uniformed about the criminal justice system. Until they,
a friend or relative becomes personally ensnared in the
system, Americans believe that police and prosecutors
would never convict an innocent person. Once they
experience the system, they are terrified by the
system's indifference to whether a defendant is innocent
or guilty. Conviction of the defendant is the system's
sole concern.

Ever widening arrest powers are
bringing a reality check to more and more Americans.
Just before Christmas the US Supreme Court
ruled that a police officer who discovers contraband
in a car can arrest every occupant if no one admits to
ownership of the illicit item. Warn your teenagers never
to get into a car with acquaintances who might have
alcohol, drugs, or weapons. And
be careful whose car you get into yourself.

Yes, there still are some honest
police, prosecutors and judges. But the pressures
they are under to match the conviction rates of the
corrupt and to clear court dockets will eventually leave
our justice system entirely in the hands of a heartless
breed that never suffers the pangs of a bad conscience.